WORDS: Andy McGechan
PHOTOS: As credited
KIWI INTERNATIONAL
RACHAEL
ARCHER
Rachael Archer is battling for the first
time in the US this year and, despite
it being her debut season, the podium
finishes are piling up.
T
he 17-year-old from Ngaroma, near
Te Awamutu, has long been a front-
runner, even against the men, on
the cross-country, enduro and motocross
scenes in New Zealand and now she’s
turning heads in the US as well.
Based in South Carolina, Archer is
tackling the Grand National Cross-country
Championships (GNCC) in the US, riding
for the AmPro Yamaha Team, a factory
team run by American cross-country
legend Randy Hawkins.
She has been training full-time, riding and
marketing herself. Her accommodation,
three customised bikes and mechanics are
provided by Yamaha, and she’s already
picked up several additional sponsors.
The GNCC competition is an
internationally-renowned series, with
races scheduled all along the east coast
of the US, from New York to Florida, and
Archer took her Yamaha YZ250F to finish
the day third overall in the WXC (women’s
cross-country) class at the ninth round of
the series near the village of Dunkard, in
Greene County, Pennsylvania, in early July.
KIWI RIDER 39